2 MIN READ
Rome Film Festival 2026
Paolo Genovese opens the 21st Rome Film Festival this evening, October 13. At 7 pm, in the Sala Sinopoli of the Auditorium Parco della Musica Ennio Morricone, Il rumore delle cose nuove (The Noise of New Things) will be presented. The festival, directed by Paola Malanga, runs until October 25 and also involves other cultural venues across the capital.
Genovese’s new work follows Follemente, the 2025 box-office success in which the director imagined thoughts and emotions as characters arguing with one another. This time the story centers on three couples, their habits and the changes that people often prefer to put off. The cast includes Stefano Accorsi, Claudia Pandolfi, Vittoria Puccini, Emanuela Fanelli, Edoardo Pesce and Lino Musella.
Among the international guests announced for this edition are two highly experienced actors. Julianne Moore, who will receive the Career Award, will present The Debut by Jesse Eisenberg. The same honor goes to Javier Bardem, expected in Rome with El ser querido, directed by Rodrigo Sorogoyen. Naomi Watts, Sandra Hüller, Jenna Ortega and Kim Kardashian are also on the program.
Jenna Ortega will be among the cast of Klara and the Sun, Taika Waititi’s film that brings to the screen the story of an android. Artificial intelligence, a subject that has by now entered everyday life, is approached by cinema by questioning human relationships and feelings.
Eighteen films have been selected for the Progressive Cinema competition, with a jury chaired by Polish director Jan Komasa. In the Italian selection we find Susanna Nicchiarelli with Giorni felici and Kasia Smutniak with Mustang, a documentary born from a personal and family search. Two authors arriving at the Festival with different ways of understanding cinematic storytelling.
During the opening night, awards will also go to Nicola Piovani, composer of the music for Life Is Beautiful, and British producer Tessa Ross, whose work has accompanied several important films of recent decades.
The Festival also pays attention to the history of Italian cinema. From October 16, Castel Sant’Angelo will host an exhibition on Luchino Visconti and the work required to build his films: sets, costumes, environments and details that, in the director’s hands, helped define the character and social position of his characters.
This year’s poster features Monica Vitti, photographed by Sergio Strizzi during the filming of Michelangelo Antonioni’s L’eclisse. A shot that recalls an unrepeatable season of Italian cinema, when Rome was also one of the main production centers of European cinema.
That image of Monica Vitti will accompany the thirteen days of the festival, from the first press meetings to the closing ceremony on October 25.
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Alessandro Sicuro
Brand Strategist | Photographer | Art Director | Project Manager
Alessandro Sicuro Comunication
